It's My Party
by Daelena
Summary: Annabelle's tenth birthday brings celebrations of several kinds and adventures too. Ianto/Jack. Doctor/Donna. Martha/Mickey. Rhys/OC. Thirtieth in the "Immortal Janto" series.


It's My Party

_Disclaimer__: Sorry kids, unless the zombie apocalypse comes, I won't have any ownage her. _

_Summary__: Annabelle's tenth birthday brings celebrations of several kinds and adventures too. Ianto/Jack. Doctor/Donna. Martha/Mickey. Rhys/OC. Thirtieth in the "Immortal Janto" series._

_Yep, we're skipping some more time here, but it'll be worth it, especially if you've read "Making the Hard Decisions." Rhys will be moving on in this posting and it'll be a good thing for both him and Anwen. At this point, Gwen and Rhys have been divorced for a year and Rhys has been dating someone for about four months. _

_Annabelle is ten, Theo is twelve, Anwen is sixteen, and the twins are eighteen._

_Here, for your enjoyment purposes, is the newest installment of this series._

One decade . . . how fast it had gone for them.

Exactly ten years prior, Jack and Ianto had welcomed their precious baby girl into the world. Ten years ago, the little blue-eyed girl had nestled herself down into Jack's arms and they had found the family that both had been waiting for.

As such, it was only natural that both men would want to celebrate this milestone in their daughter's life with a party.

The invitations had been sent and responses had come in due time. A small contingent of Annabelle's school friends were, including girls like Emma and Lily, who had stuck with Annabelle since they had all started school. On top of that, they had Ianto's entire family come in from Wales, not to mention their extended TARDIS family. Martha, Mickey, Theo, Donna, the Doctor, Geoff, S.J., Wilfred, and Sylvia were all present. And, very importantly, Rhys and Anwen were coming as well.

And Rhys was bringing a lady friend with him.

The Welsh mortal had been very hesitant about asking the two immortals if it would be alright if he brought the woman he was seeing with him. Annabelle's birthday part was a family thing and, though Rhys was considered family, he was unsure if everyone else would be alright with it.

Both Ianto and Jack had assured him that it would be alright. Annabelle had ended that conversation, when she had overheard, by grabbing the phone from Jack and telling Rhys that his girlfriend had to come, since "she was the reason why Uncle Rhys was so happy nowadays."

After that, it was all settled then.

Personally, Ianto was glad that Rhys was bringing his girlfriend (though Rhys was hesitant to use that term). The woman, who was named Eleanor, was divorced (like Rhys) and had a son in university. According to Rhys, she worked at the hospital as a nurse, had married young, and had divorced her unscrupulously horrid husband eight years prior. But, most importantly, Eleanor doted on the sixteen-year-old Anwen, who had taken to her rather quickly. The older woman seemed to recognize that Anwen could have totally hated her for dating the girl's father, but that wasn't the case.

So, when the trio had arrived at the Harkness-Jones house, for Annabelle's party, Ianto had the door open even before they had rang the doorbell. (Ianto had the TARDIS to thank for that one, since the old girl was parked casually on the sidewalk.)

"Hello Rhys, Anwen," he said, shaking the man's hand and hugging the girl jovially. He looked at Eleanor. "You must be Eleanor. Rhys has told me so much about you."

She blushed a bit as they shook hands. "Thank you so much for including me. Rhys and Anwen can go on for hours about you and your family."

"Well, when you've been friends as long as we have, it's easy for that to happen."

Ianto stepped aside to let them in. The conversation quickly turned with the arrival of Annabelle and Jack, both of whom greeted the new arrivals happily.

Mere moments later, Eleanor was thrown into the fray as she was introduced to the extended family as well as the few other adults present. Anwen wandered off to join Theo and the twins in their "big kid" escapades, which seemed to consist of keeping the TARDIS company and filling up water balloons for whatever reason.

As he stood on the back porch overlooking the back yard, Ianto smiled. Jack slipped an arm around his waist and he leaned his head against Jack's shoulder.

"It's a good turn out," he commented idly.

"Well, of course, everyone loves Annabelle."

Ianto chuckled at Jack's comment.

"Eleanor seems nice."

Jacke made an assenting noise. "If she can survive an evening with Rhys's weird adopted family, then she can survive anything."

How true Jack's words proved to be. Everything was going so well . . . which why Ianto wasn't too surprised when something catastrophic occurred.

Just as they were about to bring out the cake for the birthday girl, a large flash of fire shot across the top of the house and skimmed into the back yard. Screams filled the air and nine figures jumped into action instinctively as two more fireballs streaked into the back yard.

As Ianto and Jack converged with Mickey, Martha, Donna, and the Doctor, Rhys was already well on his way of rounding up the guests and shielding Eleanor as well as he could, while the twins hauled out their water balloons. Suddenly, the two's fixation on the water balloons made more sense. But he pushed that thought out of his mind as he saw Annabelle between Theo and Anwen.

Briefly, he smiled at his daughter before turning his attention to the fire creatures before him.

Ianto had his gun drawn the moment he sensed trouble. It was a good thing that he and Jack were usually armed. Years of averting trouble with the Doctor and with Torchwood made them a bit paranoid.

He knew the Doctor's opinions on guns but the Doctor would have to forgive them later, since Ianto wasn't the only one with a gun in hand. Jack and Mickey were both similarly armed. Martha, on the other hand, had enough foresight to bolt into the house and locate the fire extinguisher.

Donna had her sonic screwdriver out and trained on the lead of the triangle of the fire creatures.

"Who are you?" the Doctor asked, his voice neutral. "Why are you here?"

The lead fire creature tilted his head to the side, studying the Doctor. Ianto assumed it was a male, since it had the shape of a male.

"This world is rising and we will claim it as our own," the creature replied in a croaking voice.

"Really? And on who's authority?"

"Ours."

Each of the trio of fire creatures extended their hands. Large fire balls formed in their hands.

"Doctor?" Jack called, his voice a tense warning.

"I know!" The Doctor took a step closer to the fire creatures. He had their attention – or a part of it. "You listen to me, Earth is not for you to claim. You hear me? A lot of races have tried, in the past and in the future. None of them have succeeded. What makes you think you can?"

"Because fire burns and fire destroys." The lead creature laughed a horrible laugh. "We know who you are, Doctor. We have seen you before. You burn. You destroy. You are just like us."

Ianto watched as the Doctor shook his head. "I'm nothing like you."

"How?"

The Doctor laughed darkly. "Well, for one, I wouldn't come barging in here and ruin a perfectly good birthday party." A fireball got thrown at the Doctor's head, which he avoided. Geoff launched a water balloon at the fireball and doused it. "You shouldn't have done that," the Doctor chided. "See, you party-crashed on the wrong birthday party. I'm particularly fond of my niece and her fathers don't take well to people who try to harm their daughter. So, if I were you, I'd leave, right now."

"Never!"

Everything happened at once.

The fire creatures began launching fireballs into the crowd. As they did, S.J. and Geoff fired water balloons at will, hitting most of the fireballs in mid-air (thanks to their Time Lord genetics). Martha took off into the crowd, fire extinguisher in hand, to take care of what the twins missed. Guests scattered, diving for safety. Jack, Ianto, and Mickey began firing at the fire creatures. Donna had her sonic screwdriver launching blasts at the creatures as well while the Doctor ran like a madman to the TARDIS.

People screamed. Ianto kept an eye on Annabelle. He felt a surge of relief rush through him as he saw her grab Theo and Anwen, pulling them in the direction of the TARDIS. Even with the Doctor trying to solve the problem at hand there, the time machine would do everything in her power to protect the children.

Still, as he scanned the crowd, Ianto saw Rhys ushering people out, keeping his calm despite the fire around him.

But something bad had to happen, as always.

"Duck!" Ianto called, as he saw a fireball escape the water balloon.

Rhys responded in a second, the fireball hitting the grass. Ianto turned to see another fireball heading in the direction of Eleanor.

Without thinking, Ianto made a mad dash for the woman and tackled her, even as the fireball hit him square in the back. Intense pain shot across his back as the fire burned through his waistcoat. He heard Jack scream his name.

Moments later, he felt the spray of the fire extinguisher on his back. Martha hissed and, as he pulled himself up, Eleanor gasped. No doubt there were intense third-degree burns. There was certainly enough pain, but Ianto fought through it. The burns would heal in a matter of minutes.

He tightened his grip on his gun and stalked towards the fire creatures.

Ianto saw the Doctor return from the TARDIS, a device in his hands, but he had to speak to the creatures. He fired one warning shot into the air. Silence fell.

The creatures were focused on him now.

"You have one more chance to leave," Ianto said, his voice deadly. "One more chance. If you don't, you will suffer a fate worse than death. Believe me, death would be too kind."

He had a fireball in his face.

"We will never retreat."

"Fine then." Ianto looked to the Doctor and nodded.

The Doctor pressed a button and the three creatures were engulfed in a bright light. A moment later, as the light dimmed, the creatures were gone.

"Where'd they go?" Mickey asked.

"A few hundred miles above the reaches of the Sun," the Doctor replied. "They'll feel the warmth and burn of the Sun for the rest of their lives but never be able to reach out to it, never be able to touch it."

"Who were they?" Ianto asked. "What were they doing here?"

"Fire Furies are despicable creatures," the Doctor commented. "They devour, destroy, and burn everything they touch."

Ianto nodded. No more would have to be said tonight.

Sighing, he looked over his shoulder at Eleanor. The woman had slumped down onto the ground, clearly shocked at the entire event. He sighed. This was a mess and it would take a lot to clean up.

This was not how he wanted Annabelle's birthday to go.

Speaking of which . . .

"Tad!" The birthday girl streaked across the yard and threw herself at her father. Ianto wrapped his arms around her as she sobbed into his waistcoat. "I thought you were going to die!"

"Hey, Annabelle," he whispered, "you know what happens when I get hurt?" She looked up at him with those big blue eyes of hers. "I get back up. Your Daddy and I are special that way."

Jack was shaking as well as he tenderly wrapped an arm around Annabelle's shoulder. Their eyes met and Ianto saw Jack's old fear, the same fear that was always there whenever Ianto got hurt.

Ianto leaned over and kissed Jack on the lips gently.

He so owed Jack a date and a long weekend of really great, mind-blowing, love-affirming sex now.

"At least it wasn't your favorite waistcoat this time." Jack's comment came out lamely, but Ianto knew that it was to lighten the mood. He smiled his thanks to his husband.

Still, as the small family looked around, Ianto winced.

"Tad," Annabelle said, causing Ianto to look back down at her.

"Yes, Annabelle?"

"Can we not invite normal people to anymore birthday parties? Because this is way too much stuff to explain."  
>Ianto laughed and kissed the top of her head. "Whatever you say, Annabelle."<p>

And Annabelle was right.

It took another three hours to convince most of the guests that the fire creatures were just performers hired for the party, though Ianto was sure that most didn't believe it. He didn't know how many of the parents would let their children come to another Harkness-Jones party again, but the kids seemed to like it.

Eleanor recovered enough, though she seemed oddly quiet around Ianto.

And Inato felt really bad, which is why he cornered Rhys after the rest of the guests had left.

"Look, I really sorry about this," he said. "I didn't know that aliens would party-crash."

Rhys shook his head, silencing Ianto. "It's not your fault, Ianto. Aliens and weird shit's a part of yours and Jack's lives. I didn't think to warn Eleanor about it before I brought her."

The Welsh immortal sighed. "I know you really like her, Rhys."

"Ianto Jones, don't start apologizing for ending a relationship that hasn't ended yet!" Ianto raised an eyebrow in question and Rhys elaborated, "I talked to Eleanor while you and Jack were trouble-shooting. Told her that you lot come from a background of the weird and that you worked for U.N.I.T. She seemed to understand that you knew what you were doing, if not the why or the how. We're taking it slow, just like we have been doing for the last few months."

"Oh, well . . . right."

Rhys clapped Ianto on the back, causing the immortal to wince a bit. His back was still a bit sore.

"Sorry, forgot about that."

"It's okay." Ianto looked back into the yard, finding Eleanor sitting at a table, nursing a cup of tea and talking to Donna and Martha. "I should explain to her why I healed and why I don't need to go to the hospital."

"Already took care of that one." Ianto gaped at Rhys. "She knows that you can't die. I had to tell her. She is a nurse."

With that, Ianto started laughing.

It was good to be friends with someone like Rhys. He took the odd and the weird and handled it well.

Regardless, as he sat down next to Jack on the backyard swing, a dozing Annabelle curled up in Jack's arms, Ianto had a feeling that Eleanor might last. She hadn't gone running and screaming yet.

Ianto leaned his head against Jack's shoulder as Jack wrapped an arm around him.

"Not our finest moment," he admitted.

"No, but it was certainly memorable."

As Ianto smoothed Annabelle's hair, he found that he couldn't agree more

_So this is a lot of stuff packed into a small space. Tell me what you think? Did you like? Should I keep Eleanor around? _

_Please review. Reviews make me infinitely happy and more creative._

_And, as always, I will attempt to have another fic about our favorite boys and their escapades up as soon as I can._


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